Prisoners of Unity
by ColdBlackCoat
Summary: This is an altered beginning. The tide of future events has shifted ever so slightly due to the machinations of imprisoned beasts from a different reality. A mysterious figure wearing a dark cloak appears to further the chaos that is soon to follow because of it, merging two unique souls in the process.
1. Chapter 1

Rats skittered across cracked pavement, the noise from their tiny paws lightly tapping the hallowed ground was the only thing that broke the deathly silence that had ruled over this domain for millenia.

They made their way around corners and bends, deftly avoiding the traps that had killed their brethren.

Inside of this dilapidated and seemingly broken down hovel lie the seven most dangerous monsters to have ever existed, their forms stripped, they've been left to wither for all of eternity as shapeless spirits drifting into the Ether.

Despite having their identities stolen from them and their powers locked away they were still allowed to think and to feel by their captors, and this proved to be a disastrous oversight.

Through a combined effort, or perhaps a shared hatred for everything that was done to them, they channeled their thoughts and emotions into a sort of psychic link to connect their minds into one, molding the connection to become increasingly powerful over the course of twenty-thousand years. They used this new power not only as a useful means of communication, but as a tool to engineer their eventual escape into the material world. They named it The Vein.

Predictably, the monsters jailers discovered the link after its several failed attempts to penetrate the border between them. But there was nothing they could do to stop The Vein from summoning more demons to smash into the wall between dimensions in a desperate attempt to get at least one through.

And eventually… one did.

*Konoha*

It was an impossibly beautiful day in the Hidden Leaf Village. Villagers and visiting tourists roamed the streets, the sounds of street merchants promoting their wares and the general populace talking amongst themselves made for a peaceful sight.

The village had enjoyed days like this for years. The dangers of living in a world full of deadly ninjas with techniques that could threaten the safety of the entire village could almost be forgotten… almost.

Most certainly not by the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, however.

As he peered down from the Hokage's tower overlooking the entire village, he could only think of that fateful day years ago when a demon threatened to destroy everything. The destruction it caused still left a scar in the hearts of the village folk that had yet to heal, and all of the hate and resentment they held could only be directed at the poor boy that the demon had been sealed away inside of.

The Jinchūriki, Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto had yet to find out about the terrible power that had been 'gifted' to him. Sarutobi ordered everyone in the village to not even mention it to him and then oversaw the powerful sealing techniques that further caged the beast that dwelled inside, all in an effort to protect Naruto. He'd also made sure Naruto was enrolled in the ninja academy… a choice he was starting to regret, the skills the boy had learned from ninja training only seemed to aid in his troublemaking. Multiple buildings and monuments ruined by graffiti were a testament to his destructive tendencies and resulted in piles of paperwork for the hokage to sort through. He wondered if he would eventually have to lock Naruto away like so many of the village folk had demanded. Sarutobi had made the argument that Naruto should be given the chance to live like everyone else and will only be locked away if the beast inside of him got out of control.

A flash of orange caught Sarutobi's eye, none other than the boy that'd been the source of his musings jumped atop the roofs of buildings, likely in an attempt to avoid being late for school. A small smirk was now visible on Sarutobi's face, he tipped his hat up and looked over to the rising sun.

"Well, only the future will tell..." he said to himself.

And then a strange feeling overtook him, as if the course of future events had shifted ever so slightly. He would have dismissed it as fatigue from his long and busy day of being the leader of an entire village, but at the same time that he'd felt this he noticed the figure of a man seemingly vanish behind one of the many large buildings completely out of his view. For the few seconds that he'd observed this individual, only the black cloak he was wearing seemed out of place but his many years of being a ninja had trained his eyes and observational levels to their physical peak.

Besides the black cloak, he could clearly see the figure was carrying someone over his shoulder ... and whoever they were, they wore strange footwear.

*Somewhere outside the village*

He woke up with a thumping feeling in his skull… possibly because someone was thumping him in his head to get him to wake up.

"A-Aye! cut that out man, hell's your problem?!" the young man complained, only getting a blank stare from the cloaked figure in front of him. The man in the black coat stood straight then, a weird smile taking up his features, he took a few steps back and then, surprisingly, bowed ever so slightly.

"Yes, greetings and congratulations! you have been specially selected" he said gleefully, "I was a little concerned about my choice on the way over here, you are quite heavy! I suppose I could have used my powers to move you but I didn't want to use up too much energy since I have a lot of things to change before integrating you into this world as smoothly as I ca-"

"Hold up, STOP!" the boy yelled, getting fed up with the strange man's gibberish. He looked around, noticing for the first time they were in a forest. "I got some questions bro".

The mysterious figure raised an eyebrow at the interruption and the usage of the word 'bro' but nodded his head anyway at the boy's request. "Very well, ask away, but you only have five minutes before I have to silence you again, I can't maintain this form in this world for long periods of time".

"Wait… silence me? As in knock me out?!" the boy asked, bewildered. "And what do you mean THIS world? Where am I? You said you had 'powers'? " he spurted out each question in quick succession not giving the man enough time to answer a single one. Before he could get out any more questions he found himself going limp suddenly almost falling asleep, which made him spit out his final question through lips that were slowly going numb. "Why can't I move…?!"

"Silly boy, it's like I was saying, I haven't integrated you yet! but don't worry we'll be… fixing that problem… soon" the young man could barely hear what he was saying as the world around him faded to black.

-Some time later-

Everything had stopped, no one moved, no one spoke, not a single breath was taken. It was eerily silent, and such an unnatural voidness of life in a town that was bursting with energy just moments ago could only be because of the strange man in the black cloak…. at least that was the only logical explanation the boy could come up with in this extremely illogical situation. He had actually woken up not too long ago and wound up witnessing what seemed to be a ritual of sorts performed by the black coated stranger, and when it was over… this…. this emptiness was all that was left.

The boy couldn't believe what he'd witnessed… this weird guy had just stopped time.

When this had started he'd entertained the thought that maybe it was all an elaborate prank. He'd abandoned such hopes when the man turned around and, with a smirk on his face, dropped a small rock that fell only a couple of inches before stopping in mid air... frozen in time.

Fear crept up on the boy, for he'd thought he was dealing with a regular man. He'd had a plan to escape, but he knew now there was nothing he could do to get away from what stood in front of him now. Now he knew he was dealing with a monster.

"Well now boy…" the man spoke up, "finally decided to wake up have we? Did you enjoy the show? Hmmm?". He stalked closer, towering over his captive that was lying on the ground still very much unable to move, from the paralysis or from fear he couldn't tell.

"Don't worry boy I don't intend to kill you, you pose no threat to me anyway" he said cockily.

"You…" the boy weakly mumbled, still feeling way too weak, "w-what are you?!".

"It's rather simple child…" he got closer to the boy's ear, causing him to visibly shake and said "I'm the one who's going to give you a new life….".


	2. Chapter 2

Ryu Sansuba's head was pounding as he regained consciousness. He felt a little weak in the knees as well, and he had to lean against his spot on the wall for support.

He decided to take on his issues one at a time, first he'd figure out where he was. He attempted to open his eyes but quickly shut them after feeling blinded by the sudden influx of light. 'Ok so I must have been out for a while' he thought, 'ugh, what's this stuff all over my hands? Feels almost like…'

His eyes finally adjusted to the light, and he realized where he was.

A classroom.

Kids that looked to be only a few years younger than him were seated in rows that took up most of the space of the room in front of him chatting among themselves, seemingly unaware of his presence. He decided that that may have been a good thing, he didn't know what to say if any of them had asked him a question.

"Excuse me, sir" someone said from the front of the classroom. It was obvious they were addressing him from the way every student stopped what they were doing to turn towards him.

'...Great' Ryu groaned.

Silence fell over the classroom, most of the attention was now centered on the disguised figure in the back.

'Of course I get called out', he thought, 'Who in their right mind comments on not being called out without expecting to be called out?!...' he mentally chastised at himself.

Ryu frowned, deciding it would be best to play this off the cuff as to not arouse too much suspicion.

"I am Ryu Sansuba" he spoke aloud, his voice betraying his nervousness.

Suddenly, almost violently, a rush of memories assaulted him causing the young ninja to flinch in surprise. He suddenly remembered the last week in strangely vivid detail, even why he was in the classroom in the first place.

Every student was now focused on him with their undivided attention, confused at his sudden pause. Ryu was unperturbed, and spoke much more confidently than he had before.

"I have a message from the Hokage about my late enrollment. He said I should give this-" he held out a letter with an official Hokage stamp on it, "to you, Iruka-sensei".

Iruka walked up and took the letter from him. After ripping off the seal and reading through the material on the page Iruka addressed Ryu once more.

"Sansuba…" Iruka whispered questioningly, "**That** Sansuba? I thought you would be coming by much later, after the chunin exams at the earliest…" he took a moment to observe Ryu closer, "and I also thought you'd be older and more professional looking, why are you wearing all of that? It's summer time for crying out loud!" Iruka ranted, causing an even more questionable scene for the students to observe from their seats.

At this point, even Sasuke had taken interest in the not so private exchange and turned his head slightly to train his ear on the conversation. His hearing was superb, and he had no trouble picking up what was being said thanks to Iruka's loud whispering. 'After the chunin exams? Is he some sort of recruiter?... No he's far too young, although… maybe he's a genius? It isn't impossible, especially if he's being sent on special missions by the Hokage' Sasuke thought.

He turned back around in his seat and the back of Naruto's drooping head came into view. It seemed like he was sleeping.

'Not a wise move Naruto' Sasuke thought, 'to turn your back on me after what you've done…'

*Earlier that day*

The blond-haired boy in the orange jumpsuit that everyone was calling Naruto (among other things) was perched atop the desk directly in front of Sasuke and was now staring at him with quite the indignant look on his face, clearly pissed off at something he'd done. Sasuke would've been content with just sitting there and ignoring him, but after about five minutes of a one-sided stare-down, Sasuke reciprocated the gesture. And so it was that a fierce battle of wills ensued, both not willing to look away or back down, slowly inching closer with each passing minute.

Before the two could actually start fighting, a kid who was arriving late to class accidently bumped Naruto's perched form from behind, unintentionally knocking him forward. All apologies from the newcomer were drowned out by the sound of everyone gasping at the scene in front of them.

After being bumped, Naruto fell forward… right into Sasuke's lips. The accidental lip-lock lasted for a brief second before both involved parties scrambled away gasping and hacking, an enraged Sakura only a few feet away…

*Present Day*

Sasuke shivered at the memory "I've only ever experienced one thing worse than that…" he thought, his expression turned grim at the brief flash of images that permeated his thoughts. He cursed internally, the antics of the jump suited ninja boy made him remember the events of the 'Uchiha incident'. He turned his gaze towards Naruto once more.

'I'll make you pay for that little stunt Naruto…' Sasuke swore to himself.

"... Even though you may not look too impressive, I suppose if you've garnered the Hokage's favour you must be pretty good" Iruka said, finally ending his mini-tirade.

Ryu, not at all prepared for everything Iruka had to unload on him, stood in a sort of dazed state. 'Is...is he always like this? God help his students...' he thought. "Well now that we've come to an understanding, I'll be leaving now" Ryu said, turning to the front door of the classroom.

"Wait!" Iruka called, following Ryu out the door and closing it behind him.

"What about the assigning of teams-" Iruka started, but was abruptly cut off by the raising of Ryu's left hand to his confused face. "You read the letter all the way through right? It should explain how this situation will play out…".

"You can't be serious! There's no way the Hokage would authorize something this-" Iruka tried again, but this time he wasn't stopped by Ryu's outstretched hand, he was instead interrupted by Ryu's gaze.

For the first time since meeting him, Ryu stared into Iruka's eyes. The tanned teacher just stood there now, the eyes he now looked into were cinnabar orange and full of a fierceness he hadn't expected from the young man.

"It may not be preferable…" Ryu began, "but these are the Hokage's orders. The student will not be fatally harmed I assure you, and they will be returned to their team once this specific mission is completed" he said, turning his back to Iruka and heading down the hall towards the exit after deciding he was done with the conversation.

"I don't like this at all" Iruka mumbled to himself, heading back into his classroom.


	3. Chapter 3

Kakashi Hatake was a well known and respectable figure in the ninja community, and the very mention of his name was enough to make even the toughest of bandits soil themselves in fear.

As the white haired veteran walked through the streets of Konoha with his small team of three in tow, he had a solemn look on his masked face.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were his newest proteges. Young and inexperienced in the ways of stealth, precision and advanced combat tactics, it was up to Kakashi to mold them into the ninja's that would protect the Village Hidden in the Leaves and all of its inhabitants from harm.

The newly formed team headed to the training grounds, Kakashi planned on testing their individual strengths as well as their ability to work as a team… of course that's what he had planned on, but on his way to the school to pick up his team he was intercepted by a few leaf chunin who informed him of the Hokage's request for a meeting. And what the Hokage had in store for him was beyond anything he'd expected…

*Earlier that day*

"Ahh Kakashi, please take a seat, have some tea" the Hokage greeted from behind his crystal ball. Kakashi had entered the Hokage's secret quarters for their meeting, a large room decked out in red tapestry. The traditional Hokage headwear was discarded and placed neatly on the table, letting Sarutobi's old whitened hair hang loose. It was a casual atmosphere, one that Kakashi couldn't help but feel uneasy in.

"I understand that you were just on your way to meet with your new students when my operatives intercepted you?" Sarutobi questioned, taking a sip from his tea cup.

Kakashi, after having taken a seat on the other side of the table, grabbed the tea he'd been offered and replied, "Why yes, I was just on my way to meet them, I had plans on training them later at the-" Sarutobi leaned forward, studying Kakashi with a glare.

"I didn't call you here to discuss your training methods Kakashi Hatake, you know damn well who's supposed to be on your team. I need you to be careful, we can't allow the demon inside him to be let loose. The ramifications could be disastrous!" Sarutobi finished, placing his hands on his crystal ball.

Kakashi set his tea down, leaning back in his chair "as I understand it, you've assigned him to me because you know I can handle the sealing jutsu that needs to be performed-" he said, but was cut off again when Sarutobi raised a hand.

"What I'm telling you is…" Sarutobi started calmly, placing his hands back on his crystal ball "There shouldn't be a need for you to use the sealing jutsu, if the nine-tailed fox that resides inside of Naruto's body is able to escape the confines of the high level seals that have already been put into place, then what are the chances of whatever sealing techniques you know have of working? No, we need to have contingency plans put into place so that we can quell the beast before it has a chance of emerging." he said, finally taking his hands off the crystal ball and standing up. He walked over to the window and gazed at the village he wanted to protect with his very life.

"Kakashi, you will be accommodating another person on your team's first mission…" Sarutobi started again, turning his head away from the window to side glance at a still seated Kakashi.

"Hokage-sama, I believe a five man team is too excessive for a mission like this, Naruto will get suspicious about what's going on."

"I agree" Sarutobi said, his expression turning grim. He tossed Kakashi a folder with the information of the person he was to bring along. "Then make sure… it's a four man team." Kakashi stood up then, the eye that wasn't covered by his mask widened in pure shock at the implications of what the Hokage was telling him.

"I'm sure you have questions… save them, you know what needs to be done" Sarutobi said, turning his back to Kakashi, "This is an order… Kakashi Hatake." Sarutobi finished. He looked out the window once more, Kakashi not seeing the faint purple glow that emitted from the Hokage's eyes.

x-x

Naruto had woken up early that morning, jumping out of bed with his usual amount of energy, he sprinted to the fridge to find a new carton of milk awaiting him along with his favorite brand of cereal. After fixing himself a bowl he focused, to the best of his limited ability, on the mission he was about to set off on this evening with his new team.

"Hmm, I wonder if I should pack anything… naw, just my kunai should do. I figure we won't be there too long so getting hungry shouldn't be a problem." the blond ninja boy thought aloud. Naruto continued to munch on his cereal as he pondered, his mind desperately trying to stay away from the terrible events of yesterday's training session with Kakashi.

Though try as he might, Naruto's facial expressions slowly turned sour as the past events unfolded in his mind's eye…

*Yesterday evening- Training grounds*

Kakashi was absolutely brutal, when he introduced the exercise to them the concept seemed fairly simple, work as a team and retrieve the two shiny bells while he tried to stop them.

As it turned out, however, Kakashi implemented every defensive maneuver available (whether it be practical or impractical) to impede their progress.

"This is insane!" Naruto yelled, rubbing his backside after Kakashi stabbed him with his misleadingly named "One-Thousand Years of Death" attack. A silent nod from Sasuke confirmed that he agreed with Naruto's outburst. "We need to work together to get them" Sakura pitched in from behind her cover. "Naruto you move to distract Kakashi-sensei and…" she turned towards Sasuke then, a huge blush covering her cheeks "a-and Sasuke-kun c-can you um, move in and retrieve the bells? I-I know you can do it!" Sakura uttered shyly.

Her sudden change in tone when talking between them didn't get past Naruto, "and what will you be doing while Sasuke's getting his butt handed to him eh?" he said, an annoyed lilt to his tone.

"Who says I'll be beaten loser?" Sasuke retorted, "If anything, you'll botch your distraction attempt and I'll have to bail you out" he said, getting his kunai ready and preparing to enter stealth mode "Sakura… watch our backs" and with that he was off.

"Hmph we'll see who's the loser when I-"

"Just get out there and distract Kakashi-sensei Naruto!" Sakura scolded, earning a small whimper from Naruto in return.

"Okay fine…" the blond boy relented, sluggishly moving out from behind cover to distract Kakashi.

"Good, there's no way Sasuke-kun will fail" Sakura said, taking up her lookout position "this plan is foolproof!".

*A few moments later*

The plan was starting to go wrong very fast. As soon as Naruto had walked a few feet from cover Kakashi ambushed him and knocked him out cold with a quick karate chop to the head, all while not taking his eye off of the book he'd been reading the whole time.

He'd soon found out where Sasuke was hiding out as well, throwing a kunai in the general direction of a low lying brush caused the Uchiha boy to jump out and reveal himself.

"Okay, so maybe I should do something… I know! I'll run as fast as I can while he's fighting Sasuke and-"

"ARRGH!" Sasuke yelled, Sakura turned just in time to see Sasuke getting knocked out as well, almost as fast as Naruto. "well then… seems I'm the only one left…" the pinkette thought aloud.

"It would seem so" Kakashi said from his position behind her, "EEK!" she screamed, immediately jumping out of the hiding spot and into the open. Kakashi wasn't too far behind, dashing after her retreating form, he soon closed the gap swinging at her with a closed fist. She was able to dodge nimbly (much to her surprise), and took the opportunity to counterattack with her drawn kunai, pushing Kakashi back with a flurry of wild slashes.

Naruto and Sasuke had woken up from their Kakashi-induced slumbers, and were watching in amazement as Sakura continued her advance on Kakashi.

"Impossible, how is she doing so well against him?" Sasuke mumbled from his position, clearly off put by the sudden display of skill from the quiet girl he'd only met just recently.

"Yeah, kick his ass Sakura!" Naruto screamed in encouragement, a complete opposite to Sasuke's reserved composure.

Sakura, momentarily distracted, took a moment to look over. First at Naruto, "Oh great… the annoying one's up" she thought sarcastically, and then she looked over to a recovering Sasuke and blushed.

"Oh! Sasuke-kun's oka-a-a-" her train of thought as well as her forward momentum were cut off after receiving a fairly powerful kick from Kakashi to her side, sending her flying a few feet before landing on the dirt face first. A small pool of blood trickled from her mouth as she lie there, she knew some of her bones had to be broken, "D-dammit, I let myself get distracted…" she saw her teammates rushing over to her as the world around her faded to black.

*Present Day*

"I distracted her, so she got hurt…" Naruto said, his frown getting even larger. "I have to go visit her and apologize!" he said determinately, putting away his cereal and moving to get dressed and ready.

After zipping up his jumpsuit, he exited his apartment and sprinted towards the hospital Sakura was staying in, unaware of the eyes of a certain black coated individual following him down the road.


	4. Chapter 4

_*Somewhere, deep in the forests surrounding Konoha*_

The usually serene atmosphere of the local forests surrounding Konoha was disrupted by the chaotic sounds of combat.

Several ninjas with headbands engraved with the symbol of the Village Hidden in the Leaves were engaged with one of the many roaming gangs of bandits that infested the forests.

Although the Leaf ninja were able to out-maneuver the bandits with their advanced training and superior speed, the sheer number of opponents they faced were slowly overwhelming them.

Even worse, their ability to disengage was being stagnated by the efforts of the bandit leader who, to the shinobi's surprise, was somewhat proficient with earth-style jutsu. Every time an opportunity to escape presented itself a new rock wall was erected, trapping them.

"Dammit! We're gonna die out here!" One of the ninjas yelled, taking refuge in a tree high above the action.

"Where's Ryu?!"

x-x

"He's late…" Ai thought, tapping her foot impatiently and leaning into her palm with an exasperated look on her face.

Ai Yoshinaga had reserved an entire table at her favorite restaurant in Konoha, she'd shown up at the place around noon and was waiting for her boyfriend to show up.

Of course he was running a little late… As per the usual.

She checked the clock again, and her eyes widened when she read the time.

"He's THIRTY minutes late?! I'll kill that asshole!" she screamed and stood up in her stall, prompting everyone in the establishment to turn and look at her with worried expressions, and for good reason. When they got a look at what she was wearing, some even started to get up to leave.

Ai was armed to the teeth with all types of weapons and gear. Her leggings and undershirt were adorned with straps of metallic coating with two large sheathed knives on either side of her torso, she wore a belt that hung slightly off of her hip and had small leather packs strapped to it. Her shoulder pads had metal straps as well, and her entire outfit was outlined in a purple cloth that matched the purple streak in her long black hair. Some say this wasn't even the fullest extent of her armaments, and that she only wore her 'real' gear on serious missions.

"Ma'am I'm going to need you to calm down…" the chef, who was also the only soul in the place who seemed unfazed by her outburst, said in an even and authoritative tone. Ai turned to glare at the man.

"Pfft… fine…" she mumbled, and sat down with her arms crossed.

"I'm sure your date will be here shortly, ma'am" he tried to assure her.

"He damn well better be…" she said, a frown now taking over her features.

Ai ordered her food, waiting for him to walk in at any moment. When her food arrived and she began eating, she started to get a little worried. And by the time she'd finished her food and paid for it, she was silently fuming, her face completely red from all of the pent up rage. She stomped out of the restaurant, the chef bidding her a good day on her way out.

Once Ai had gotten outside, not even two seconds passed before she loudly started cursing her boyfriends name with the most profane words that came to mind, causing a passing mother to cover her child's ears while giving Ai a disdainful look. She didn't seem to notice though, as she was far too busy spewing out a line of verbal hate that was all aimed at one unfortunate soul…

"RYUUUUUUU!"

X-x

Sakura Haruno rested peacefully in her hospital bed, a light breathing sound emitting from her partly opened mouth was the only sound in the room. The window to her left had its blinds parted to allow streams of sunlight to shine into the room. One of the rays fell into her half-lidded eyes causing her to groggily awake from her nap, she immediately caste a bandaged arm over her face to shield her from the offending glare. Having woken up now, she took a moment to look around.

'I'm in a hospital…' she realized, trying to sit up but grimacing at the flare of pain that shot up into her side. 'What the hell- oh right… we were training… we were only training and I got beaten this badly…' she thought, letting a sob escape her now trembling form, a panic started to seep into her slowly worsening state of mind. 'They'll probably replace me now, t-the village d-doesn't n-need a weakling like me defending it' she started crying softly laying back down.

It was in the midst of her breakdown that she heard a knock on the door and the call of a nurse asking if it was ok to come in. Sakura got herself together, wiping the tears from her face and trying to make herself look presentable. Once she was satisfied with her appearance she called for the nurse to come in. A soft click sounded and in walked a village nurse with a tray of medications for Sakura to take.

"Miss Haruno I've come with your daily- oh my" the nurse paused, looking over her patients distressed form. "Are you ok dear, are you in pain?" she asked worriedly, setting the tray down and making her way quickly to Sakura's side.

"I'm fine, it's just…" Sakura started and then huffed exaggeratingly "I let my team down… they probably don't even want to see me…" she finished, looking down at her feet.

The nurse blinked and backed away a little, she fretted around nervously for a second before she remembered something and turned to the pink haired ninja with a small smile. "Ohh that's not true, in fact I remember two young men coming by earlier in the day asking for you, they were here before visitation hours though so we couldn't let them see you…" the nurse trailed off after seeing a new determined look in Sakura's eyes. She continued after coughing awkwardly into her hand, "One was a blonde haired boy in an orange jumpsuit, I think he said something along the lines of-"

"Uh huh, that's nice, what about the other one?!" Sakura questioned quickly cutting the nurse off and sitting straight up in her bed ignoring the obvious pain in her side "the black haired boy what'd he say?!" she asked desperately, scaring the nurse somewhat with her sudden impulsiveness.

"H-he wanted me to tell you to meet him later by the lake- ma'am please calm down! You're going to aggravate your injuries with all of the sudden movement-"

But Sakura wasn't listening at this point, her spirits were lifted into the sky, she only felt a dull ache in her side now and her face was just about split in two from the impossibly huge smile that now adorned it. She already jumped out of bed by the time a second knock sounded at the door.

"Hello? I'm coming in to check on a miss Sakura Haruno, she should be- my word! Nurse Pan, why is the patient out of her bed?! She should be resting!" the doctor barked at his nurse in an authoritative tone.

"I-It's not my fault she asked me a question a-and then she… she… THIS!" the nurse started frantically, gesturing to a now ecstatic Sakura in the corner of the room getting dressed in her standard outfit.

"Miss Haruno please get back in bed, you aren't fully healed and could hurt yourself even more" the doctor explained, but Sakura was dead set on meeting up with Sasuke and simply ran past the doctor, down the corridor and to the main exit yelling out apologies for leaving early and 'thanks for the treatment' before bursting through the exit door and sprinting in the direction of the meeting spot. The pain from her injury was starting to break through her momentary trance, but she didn't care, hearts stayed in her eyes all the way to the lake.

*Back in the forest*

Ryu had been making his way back to the village when he'd encountered a group of Village scouts making their daily rounds.

"Hold there!" one of the scouts yelled once he noticed Ryu, he drew a kunai from his side and got into a defensive stance "identify yourself!" he commanded. His two teammates took up positions on either side of Ryu, blocking off any escape routes.

Ryu smirked and pulled up one of his sleeves, revealing a headband wrapped around one of his biceps with the hidden Leaf insignia etched into it. "I'm Ryu Sansuba, I'm following under the Hokage's direct orders to hunt down and detain a criminal roaming these forests. I'd just completed my mission and was heading back into the village".

"Well where's this criminal? Shouldn't he be with you if you've detained him?" one of the guards asked.

Ryu was about to answer but suddenly reached to his back for his staff and hastily blocked a kick that was coming towards his face at an alarming speed.

The robed figure that had attacked Ryu bounced off of the staff and landed in the middle of the clearing, instantly surrounded. Ryu got into his combat stance and observed the new combatant closely, the first thing he'd noticed was the headband he wore resembled his but had a long line through the symbol, the mark of a rogue ninja. What he observed next made his eyes open wide in shock and made him take a step backwards.

'His clothes-!' Ryu thought, gritting his teeth and gripping his staff even tighter 'h-he's one of those...'

"Hold it right there!" a scout yelled, the same one that had stopped Ryu. "Identify your-" he stopped mid-sentence after the intruder had turned to look at him. The scout then dropped to his knees and fell to the ground, knocked out cold. The other two scouts decided to intervene then, rushing towards the intruder with kunai drawn.

"No!" Ryu screamed, "get back, you don't stand a chance!" but it was too late, by the time the scouts had reached the intruder one of them was already struck down from an unseen kick that hit him squarely in the head, the force of it snapping the scouts neck, and a follow-up kick had him flying back into the forest. His partner didn't fare any better, having his arm broken after trying to stab the intruder with his kunai and then being swiftly dispatched after his kunai was then taken from him and lodged into the base of his throat. The sound of the dying scout choking on his own blood filled the clearing for a few seconds before complete silence once again taking hold.

Ryu looked at his new foe with hatred evident in his gaze. "You… bastard…" he said, his grip almost making his knuckles whiten.

"...I didn't wish to kill them… needless bloodshed is an unbecoming ending to such a beautiful day" the intruder finally spoke, his voice deep and almost sad sounding. "They attacked me however, and so, the only course of action was to combat them…"

"Cut the bullshit, I know who you are, you're one of those Akatsuki clan members, all you guys ever do is spread chaos. Don't tell me killing a few scouts was a hard decision to make" Ryu retorted viciously, spitting on the ground in front of him in disgust.

The (still) unidentified assailant stayed silent for several moments before speaking. "You're needed, further on in the forest, your allies are being quickly overwhelmed" he said before staring to leave.

"You think you can walk away? after doing this?!" Ryu questioned him.

"You're running out of time" the stranger replied.

"I don't believe you" Ryu said, and decided the best course of action would be to attack while his opponents guard was seemingly lowered.

He'd taken two steps before his legs suddenly locked up and his breath was torn from his lungs. Ryu reached up, dropping his staff and scrapping at his neck in some vain attempt to regain some oxygen.

"DON'T YOU COME NEAR ME" the man barked, completely losing his composure, "it is not yet time, the vessel isn't ready for integration!".

Ryu couldn't even hear the man, his vision had started to blacken and he had fallen on his face with his hands still gripping at his neck.

"Hmm... yes, perhaps I should move this along..." and with no further delay the stranger picked up Ryu's unconscious form and...

Disappeared.

x-x


End file.
